Paint It Black
by May All Your Bacon Burn
Summary: Roxas wanted freedom, someone to care about him. He never expected to find that someone whose own problems were exactly the same. AkuRoku Can be viewed as friendly.


Summary: Roxas wanted freedom, someone to care about him. He never expected to find that someone whose own problems were exactly the same. AkuRoku

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It was said that Roxas was the more disturbed son. He had a huge family, mostly all blonds like himself, but they were usually all happy, content with their lives. Rikku, Sora, Ven, Cloud, Demyx, Namine and Larxene. They were odd, but none were mean (Larxene just pretended, she was actually a softie).

Roxas wasn't.

When they would sit around, laughing and smiling, Roxas felt like a stranger in his own home. Like he wasn't _**meant**_ to be here, it was an accident. It was the most horrible feeling in the world, and sometimes Roxas would go to bed crying. It was hard for him to get close to any of his siblings, they weren't like him at all. The only one he could talk with at all was Cloud.

He was even different at school. Twilight Town was bustling with happy people, that's why Elena moved here when Cid died of a heart attack. Really, the only friend Roxas had were Namine and an odd girl named Olette and her sister, Aqua. But even they were different than his own difference. They were nice, just shy. He was...defective.

He remembered, day after day, he wanted someone to notice his problems. He wasn't what people made him out to be. He wasn't mean, he wasn't hateful. He just...wasn't full of radiating happiness that his siblings had. He felt so...wrong. And he knew that if someone else were to notice, maybe they'd fix it.

He didn't know that the one to fix him would be just like him.

He remembered seeing the guy every day at school. He was an odd-ball, always doing what he wanted, not what he should do. Sometimes it got him into trouble, sometimes out of it. He wore weird clothes, he talked like it was a different language, he even seemed to walk different. His name was Axel Nosuma, eighteen. Roxas himself was seventeen.

He wasn't necessarily popular, but people knew who he was. He had a lot of friends, but most of them only to say bad things behind his back. Axel was different. He was...maybe too different for this town. He was like Roxas.

Roxas couldn't call him beautiful or gorgeous; Roxas didn't know what beauty was. But he admitted that Axel was...pretty. His face was a little too angular but he had the brightest green eyes, usually with eyeliner, and black teardrop tattoos under them on his high cheekbones. He was lanky and skinny, with abnormally long legs and arms that looked like twigs. He had thick-rimmed black glasses and his bright red hair was usually pulled into a pony-tail.

Sometimes Roxas wanted to talk to him. Maybe they were alike. Maybe they could fix each other. But then the blond smacked himself for thinking such a thought. Axel didn't seem to have his problems. He was always smiling, even when people whispered about him. He didn't care, but he wasn't...like Roxas. But at the same time...

Roxas always thought it was funny, the way he first met Axel. Formally, anyway. He had gone to the roof of their High School to get away from his peers, simply because he could, to see that the red head was leaning against the fence that surrounded the edges.

"Hey."

Roxas blinked. "Um, hi..."

Axel grinned, motioning to the seat next to him. "Want to sit down? I don't bite."

Roxas shrugged, taking the offered spot. At least Axel was nice. That was more than he had hoped for. "Uh, so...what're you doing up here?"

Axel moved up his glasses since they had been slipping down the bridge of his nose. "Thinking."

"About...?"

He shrugged. "Things, I guess. What does someone think about when they're alone and having nothing _**to**_ really think about?"

He had a point, Roxas knew. "Oh."

"What about you?"

Roxas looked over at him. "Wanted to get away is all."

He nodded. "True."

They sat in silence. Roxas didn't know to say and Axel had nothing to say. It wasn't awkward, just...comfortable. The blond liked it, really. It was never quiet at his house unless he stayed home sick since everyone was then gone. Even Elena, since she had to work three jobs to keep them afloat.

"Have you ever felt...like something was missing?" Axel asked suddenly, making the blond blink and stare at him.

"W-what?"

"Ever felt like anything is missing?" He repeated, looking at him from the corner of his eye and again adjusting his glasses. "You know, like...you're broken or something."

Roxas licked his lips; Axel was talking about exactly what he had always felt. "Y-yeah, actually."

Axel chuckled, his long, slender fingers fidgeting. Maybe he was just a fidgety person. "It's a strange feeling, huh? Almost like...being broken is the only thing you can feel and everything else is...wrong. Like it's a lie or something." He gave Roxas a smile. "You've felt like that before?"

Roxas wasn't sure if his voice would work so he nodded. The tall red head chuckled again, wrapping his long arms around his knees as he drew them up. He rested his chin on them, but still looked at Roxas from the corner of his eye, even though he couldn't really see him because of his glasses.

"It's nice to know someone else is like that too..." He whispered. "I've always hoped...I even thought that maybe it would be you. You never seemed...happy. It was like you were on mute or something. I liked that about you."

Roxas frowned. "Axel, we've never even spoken to each other before."

He adjusted the glasses, making Roxas scowl. It was getting annoying. "True, but we never needed to. See? We get along fine with our broken personalities."

Roxas chuckled. "I...guess so."

They were quiet again. Roxas suddenly felt like he could tell Axel everything; how he felt about his family and friends and teachers and the world in general. And he knew the other would listen to him. And he would listen to Axel.

"My mom didn't want me." The red head murmured, getting Roxas's attention. "I'm not sure, but...she never wanted kids. I was an accident baby, you know? Too many whiskey's or something. She was still in High School when I was born. Then on top of that, I never really acted right, never feeling anything and I had horrible sight. She can't really afford me. I feel...kinda guilty, you know? Being dumped on her."

"What do you guys do?" Roxas asked softly.

Axel smiled. "We pretend I don't exist. I like it better than her pretending that she cares about me. All I have to do is make sure I'm not around if she brings someone over."

Roxas frowned. "My family's...nothing like that." He saw Axel look at him, listening intently. "My Dad died of a heart attack, so only my mom can take care of all of us, but we're not poor, just not rich. We're all happy, but...I feel different than them. Like I'm a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, only I belong in a different collection all together. I look at all my siblings and none of them are like me."

Axel sighed, pushing up his glasses and leaning back, his arm brushing the blonds. "You can't help what you feel. And you feel what you can't help."

Roxas blinked before chuckling. "Very poetic."

Axel grinned. "Thanks."

The bell rang then, making Roxas jump. He sighed. "I should get going."

"Me too..." Axel stood up, stretching before he turned to the boy. "Hey, Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

He smiled. "If you ever feeling like being fixed, come and find me, okay? Maybe we can get fixed together."

Roxas only nodded as he ran off. When Axel was probably already on the ground floor, the blond sighed, getting up and patting off any dust from his pants. He felt different now. A good different. He felt...happy. He smiled to himself, getting ready to face his friends.

It was only then that he remembered that Axel had Graduated last year.

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You might not understand the ending, but oh well. I don't feel like explaining. I just re-read Reckless and Impulsive and that story just motivates me! I had to write something like this, so I did. XP I hope you all like it and will review! I'd appreciate it.

R&R


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